LIFESTYLE: Useful tools

I recently discovered a site called ‘Crowdhoster’. And it occurred to me that it could be used for many collaborative fund raising projects.

Such a pressing local project could be the creation of a private Yr 7 – 12 secondary Catholic school to overcome the Canberra 'centricity' of the Catholic Education Office who’s decision to close the current 7 – 10 section of Mt Carmel will destroy educational choice and opportunity within our town.

Crowdhoster can be used to create a campaign page complete with a funding progress bar, links, and customisable content areas without having to know how to write code.

Visitors can look over the features area, check out examples, and read over the setup guide. Check out www.crowdhoster.com

Time management

Another tool that could be of value both for committees and for individuals is the time management and reporting tool called Everhour.

It seems to be very user friendly and can be customised to reflect the order and timing of your workday.

Storing and sharing

Sites that allow you to store and share files in the Cloud are invaluable for collaborative projects.

I have been using Dropbox for a couple of years and like the fact that the Dropbox folder on my computer can synchronise with Dropbox in the Cloud and on my mobile phone.

I also like the fact that I can select which folders I share.

A similar site is Younity which you can find at getyounity.com

Dictation

While Dictation is only compatible with computers running Google Chrome, for those challenged by the keyboard it may be the answer to writing emails, notes and essays.

Simply attach a microphone to your computer and dictate your notes.https://dictation.io

Jing It

Some snag it or snip it, but I like to jing it! Jing is a favourite small app that allows me to capture the whole or part of a screen and save it as an image either to my computer or to the Jing website to be shared with others by emailing the specific web link.

What I also find useful is that I can add notes to the screen capture.

This is very handy when trying to communicate instructions or share ideas.

Life cams

Finally, while strictly not an application, you may enjoy using the US Discovery Channel’s Life Cams page, particularly if you love looking at the natural but unfamiliar world. Check out their shark cam or for fun their penguin cam.

The Alaska cam is also well worth looking at and can be found at www.discovery.com/live-cams